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US catastrophic losses 1950-2004
American Re’s annual round-up of North American natural catastrophes highlights the extraordinary windstorm events of last year. The first table we have taken shows that five hurricanes produced economic losses of over $60bn and insured..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Swiss Re and Munich Re: an account comparison
Europe’s two reinsurance titans, Munich Re and Swiss Re, have followed slightly different paths over the past few years, but comparison of the two accounts is still interesting. Our tables show the reinsurers’ premium income by line of..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Cat bond activity 2003 and 2004
The cat bond market continued to grow in 2004, with the total outstanding risk capital reaching $4.04bn at the end of the year, up from $3.45bn a year previously. However, last year’s total issuance of $1.14bn was a decline from..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Concentration in the US reinsurance market
The 10 largest US reinsurers accounted for 84% of the total market last year, according to the annual survey ofthe Reinsurance Association of America (RAA). GE Insurance Solutions was the market leader, with a share of 12.5%, although the Berkshire..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Reinsurers’ first quarter 2005: some are up, some are down
First quarter figures are starting to roll in and so far there seems to be no clear pattern to reinsurers’ performance and behaviour. As our table shows, despite the talk that the market has peaked and rates are falling, many companies have..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Corporate round-up
Malaysian National Reinsurance Berhad has completed a restructuring that sees the parent company transform itself into a holding company called MNRB Holdings Berhad. Reinsurance operations have been transferred to a new 100% subsidiary of MNRB,..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Reinsurance people
▪ Following Ron Carlier’s departure, reinsurance broking group Carvill has appointed John Cavanagh
and David Thomas
as joint chief executives. Mr Thomas will assume the role of chief executive of RK Carvill & Co and Mr Cavanaugh..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Corporate security assessment
Regular analysis of reinsurance corporate security using information based on recent financial and market performance.
ALLIANZ AG:
Even experienced commentators tend to overlook the fact that certain German insurance companies write a portfolio of..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Executive Life case goes to jury
A federal jury in Los Angeles has been deliberating the case in which the California insurance department has accused French businessman François Pinault of engaging in a conspiracy with former French state bank Credit Lyonnais to acquire the..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
New oil pollution fund is ratified
A new oil pollution fund has come into force to provide additional compensation in the event of spillages that exceed the cover provided by protection & indemnity (P&I) clubs and existing international agreements on compensation.
The..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
US asbestos bill stalls on new hitch
The US legislative proposal to create a national asbestos compensation trust fund has hit another road block in the Senate judiciary committee, where further work on the bill has been put off until May 12.
Committee chairman Arlen Specter had hoped..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
IMF gives Caymans delayed OK
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given the regulatory and supervisory regime of the financial services industry in the Cayman Islands a thumbs-up, although it took the fund’s team 18 months to compile its report.
The Cayman Islands is..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Little change from annual deductible
One change that has already taken effect in the Florida insurance market is the imposition of an annual deductible system.
As of the beginning of this month, residential policyholders face an annual hurricane deductible covering losses from all..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Citizens awaits legislature’s verdict
Florida’s residual insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corp, is delaying an assessment levy of local insurers while it waits to see if legislators approve a proposal to use state funds to minimize the impact of last year’s..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
WTC evacuation not a business trip
Insurers often complain at some of the more outlandish claims they are presented with (honest – the lamp post jumped out and hit the car), but the industry itself can sometimes test credulity when trying to gain money.
The recent reinsurance..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Regulatory probe expands
The regulatory probe into finite reinsurance has expanded in other directions, with the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) issuing subpoenas to Bermuda’s XL Capital and the GE Insurance Solutions unit of US General Electric...
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Re Report – now with added statistics
Graham Village
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
AIG makes further admissions
Troubled US insurance group AIG has acknowledged more widespread accounting improprieties than it admitted a month ago, and will be forced to make financial restatements going back four years that will reduce its worth by $2.7bn.
The company,..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Allstate spends to cut cat exposure
The US market’s second largest insurer, Allstate, expects the cost of its reinsurance protection will more than double this year as it buys additional catastrophe cover for key eastern seaboard states.
The multi-year programme, effective from..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Taiwan considers new cat pools
Taiwanese reinsurer Central Re, administrator of the country’s earthquake insurance pool, has asked interested brokers to tender for a role in the pool’s next reinsurance renewal, effective from April 1, 2006.
At the request of..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
This issue
Brokers may have thought 2004 was bad but the full financial and business implications of the Spitzer probe will only become evident during the course of 2005. The three largest firms all made profits last year – though much reduced of course..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
Brokers await full probe bill
“Apart from that Mrs Lincoln, did you enjoy the theatre?” This old joke springs to mind when looking at the fortunes of the mega brokers in 2004, an epochal year for the entire broking market, but particularly the larger players. It..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
09-05 - 09 May 2005
The Re Report in the Crucible
All too predictably the Re Report has been drawn into the current wave of investigations into finite reinsurance. In the interests of self-preservation we took the precaution of taping a recent “conversation” we had with the influential..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Corporate round-up
XL Capital said it now expects a decision in the fourth quarter on its dispute with Swiss insurer Winterthur relating to the post-closing seasoning process for the Bermudian company’s acquisition of Winterthur International in 2001.
An..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Reinsurance people
▪ Bob Stuchbery
has been appointed chairman of the Lloyd’s Market Association’s underwriting & claims committee. He succeeds David Foreman
who remains on the committee. Mr Stuchbery is also underwriting director at Chaucer..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Corporate security assessment
Regular analysis of reinsurance corporate security using information based on recent financial and market performance.
CATLIN:
One of the higher profile operations in the London market, Catlin Group, moved into the spotlight in April last year..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
NAIC plans new finite disclosure
As the attorney general of New York and to a lesser extent the Securities & Exchange Commission take the lead, US insurance regulators are now getting down to the practical task of amending disclosure requirements for alternative risk transfer..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Study tallies US asbestos losses
Asbestos-related litigation in the US involved more than 730,000 claimants from the early 1970s though 2002, costing defendant companies and their insurers more than $70bn, according to a new study by US think tank RAND Corp.
The study found..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
New broker raises $300m in capital
Integro Ltd, a new broking group based in New York, has raised more than $300m in start-up capital from investors that include five former executives of Marsh & McLennan’s March Inc broking unit. Integro is led by chairman Robert..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
HIH liquidation hits a legal snag
The proposed schemes of arrangement for the failed HIH companies in Australia suffered a hitch recently when the Supreme Court in New South Wales refused to allow the liquidators to convene creditors’ meetings to discuss the scheme.
The court..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Japanese raise quake cover limit
Japan has increased the amount of earthquake cover available under its state-backed insurance and reinsurance scheme for residential cover to ¥5000bn ($46.6bn), the 13th rise since the creation of the programme in 1996.
The last 10 years..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Split verdict at Executive Life
A federal jury in Los Angeles earlier this month found that French businessman François Pinault’s Artemis holding company conspired to defraud California insurance regulators in the 1993 takeover of failed Executive Life Insurance. The..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
APRA plans new reinsurance regime
Reinsurance in Australia will fall under tighter supervision, including a much tougher standard of documentation, if proposals put forward by the local regulator are approved.
This month the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) issued a..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Garamendi tries again with Fremont
California’s Fremont General has reported another development in its legal battle with the state’s insurance department over the failure of the group’s workers’ compensation subsidiary, Fremont Indemnity Co, in controversial..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
AIG and General Re at probe heart
Fallout from various federal and state investigations into possible misuse of finite reinsurance by AIG and other buyers has intensified, with more subpoenas being issued to insurers and various executives finding themselves the subject of fraud..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Florida bill brings modest changes
Changes there will be but not as many as might have been expected as a result of the passage of bill 1486 in Florida, amending the landscape for homeowners’ insurance in the state. The insurance market can be thankful that it achieved some of..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Finite still appeals to Bermuda
Although finite and alternative risk transfer (ART) business are under considerable scrutiny, the recent experience of Bermuda’s reinsurers indicates it may be premature to write off the sector completely just yet.
PartnerRe announced a while..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Highfields blasts Scor over IRP
The long-running row between France’s Scor and investment group Highfields Capital has escalated, with Highfields disputing Scor’s planned 100% acquisition of Irish Reinsurance Partners (IRP) and threatening to continue litigation..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Let me put that another way…
Reserve development is not the only reason these days for regarding insurers’ and reinsurers’ financial statements as something of a work-in-progress rather than a definitive document. And AIG is not the only company to have a look at..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Giving a little back to investors
Bermudian companies are under extreme pressure to return money to their initial investors after several years of strong performance, but timing is everything, and they will be praying that their generosity does not coincide with a further downturn..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
This issue
Now the market is softening, Bermuda’s reinsurers no longer look like a single entity recording consistently high profits. The first quarter figures show some big differences in approach and performance, although Bermuda is still making plenty..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005
Bermudians view market differently
Unfair but tempting to view Bermuda’s reinsurance market as a homogeneous unit over the last few, golden years, but conditions have turned and with that companies are now adopting a variety of stances to the softening environment.
Our..
Online Published Date:
23 May 2005
Appeared in issue:
10-05 - 23 May 2005